We tell It Right!
haracter tells who a person is, so too does the mission and vision of an institution. It reveals the character and objectives of the institution to the world. The mission of CUIB is to train professional servant leaders with moral and spiritual values who will contribute to the sustainable development of their communities. However stating this mission is not enough, but making the mission a reality. It is on this basis that some staff and faculty of CUIB participated in a two weeks leadership seminar at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota aimed at building capacity.
The training focused on the true meaning of a Catholic University which has as one of its purpose, to engage people in conversations geared towards working for the common good. Professor Mike Naughton and Don Briel, facilitator and guest speaker respectively disclosed that, engaging people entails giving students at Catholic Institutions an education that encompasses the integration of knowledge, dialogue and complementarity of faith and reason as well as ethics such that students have the true meaning of, and a bigger picture of the world.
On Catholic Studies speakers talked on the need to create a community of Truth and Spirituality; giving people the opportunity to understand their lives, executing their jobs as a service to God and humanity. This implied the need for faculty, students and staff of CUIB to understand the essence of resolving conflicts and differences which puts universities in a state of crisis; fragmentation, compartmentalization and instrumentation. As a core of CUIB, the moderator of Campus Ministry Rev. Fr. Tobias Bekong outlined that to enforce the integral formation of students at CUIB the Catholic Studies will be made less cumbersome, more interactive and participatory such that students are groomed morally and spiritually. More so seminars and exchanges with Catholic and non-Catholic students on aspects such as their purpose in life, the need for God in education are understood by all.
According to Dr. Halo Touko, dean of the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources empowering colleagues about the vocation of an Agricultural Leader, engaging them and making the journey with them through conversations will change the Job mindset to the Vocation mindset. He voiced that resolving the conflict of fragmentation, compartmentalization and instrumentation entails the schools and other units of CUIB working and supporting each other.
As a Catholic Institution fostering entrepreneurship and innovation amongst students, during the two weeks of training participants at the seminar visited the University of Saint Thomas’ entrepreneurial hub and a business run by one of its Alumni. Here participants were drilled on various methods used by UST on/ for entrepreneurship and how to enforce the training of entrepreneurs who will work for the common good. Picking from the drill participants, particularly the director of CUIB’s entrepreneurial arm CERI were urged to scale up ethics, values, quality service delivery, and professionalism into CUIB’s entrepreneurial training programs in order to stay top of the entrepreneurial game in Cameroon.
Ensuring the training of professional servant leaders is pertinent in our contemporary society: that is clouded by societal ills. Young graduates are easily lured in to malpractices of bribery, corruption and disregard for the Creator. Hence with its mission to train moral and spiritual leaders, CUIB faculty and staff were empowered with leadership skills that will enable them train apt leaders who will be commendable and act against societal ills with the sole aim to build sustainable communities. They chorused humility and stewardship, as their watch word and new way of life. The coordinator of CUIB Communication Services, Mirabelle Fomucha plans on fostering humility in leadership through engagement in live radio and TV programmes to talk about leadership as well as produce a yearly magazine that exploits innovations, leadership styles among members of the CUIB community.
Heads of unit following discussions on how to work for the sustainable development of the communities were urged to instill the CUIB mindset to the community to create an impact. In addition, the Dean of the School of IT said in order to promote the Catholic mission of service, she will inculcate in her school ethics into students and faculty lifestyle through research projects that investigate and mitigate the negative impacts of modern technology with the CUIB community, while preserving the culture of Cameroon.
The team plans on organizing seminars and other activities to impart all they gathered at the seminar to faculty and staff and subsequently the entire university. This they believe will go a long way to ensure all at the university understand the mission and identity of CUIB, such that all have one brand voice.
